Following the highly developed technology and the high demands for good applicability of commercial products, a plurality of products and techniques in connection with different electronic apparatus and portable electronic apparatus have been developed, including, for example, smart phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), digital cameras, AV players, portable multimedia players (PMPs), etc. These electronic apparatus and portable electronic apparatus are generally provided at one side or at a bottom with various kinds of terminals or sockets, to which a charger, different peripherals, or a computer connection interface may be connected, so that the electronic apparatus may be recharged, used to output sound and/or image, or connected to a personal computer.
Please refer to FIG. 1 that shows a conventional way of connecting electric signals between a handheld apparatus A and other different electronic apparatus. As shown, the handheld apparatus A is provided at a bottom with a plurality of sockets A1, A2, A3, A4 having different specifications, so that different connection terminals, such as a power cord B1, a headphone B2, a USB cable B3, and a video-out cable B4, are separately plugged into a corresponding one of the sockets A1, A2, A3, and A4. It is noted the connection terminals B1, B2, B3, B4 might vary with different manufacturers, but they should always match the sockets they are connected to. For example, the power cord B1 must be plugged into the socket A1 to recharge the handheld apparatus A, the headphone B2 or a microphone must be plugged into the socket A2 to output sound, the USB cable B3 must be plugged into the socket A3 to connect with a computer C for data transmission, and the video-out cable B4 must be plugged into the socket A4 to connect with a display D for outputting sound and image. When there are still other types of electric signals to be connected, other corresponding sockets of similar or different specifications must be additionally provided on the handheld apparatus A. As a result, a large area at the bottom or the lateral side of the handheld apparatus A would be occupied by these sockets A1-A4 to adversely affect the beautiful appearance of the handheld apparatus A.
Please refer to FIG. 2. There are also different connection terminals provided with similarly configured connectors. In this case, only one socket A1 is needed to provide at the bottom of a handheld apparatus A. However, only one connection terminal could be plugged into the socket A1 each time. For example, when the charger B1 is plugged into the socket A1 for recharging the handheld apparatus A, it is impossible for the headphone B2, the USB cable B3 and the computer C, or the video-out cable B and the display D to plug into the socket A1 at the same time. While this manner of signal connection simplifies the connector structure of different connection terminals B1 to B4 and the socket A1 on the handheld apparatus A, the number of peripherals that could be simultaneously electrically connected to the handheld apparatus A to execute different functions is also reduced, making the handheld apparatus A inconvenient for use and bringing a lot of confusions to users.
As can be found from FIGS. 1 and 2, in the first conventional way of connecting signals, the sockets for different connection terminals or interfaces would occupy a large space on an electronic apparatus, and a user has to carry about multiple sets of cables or connection terminals with him when the electronic apparatus is to be used at another place; and in the second conventional way, since only one type of connection terminal is allowed to connect to the electronic apparatus each time, the applicability of the electronic apparatus is largely reduced.